Irs: Be Patient -- Check Really Will Be In The Mail

If you are one of the 3.6 million Floridians expecting an income tax refund and haven't received it yet, the Internal Revenue Service says not to give up. The check will arrive -- eventually.

Although taxpayers who called an Internal Revenue Service hot line last week were told that all refund checks would be mailed by last Friday, a spokesman for the IRS district office in Jacksonville said Wednesday that there is no such mailing deadline. He said refunds would continue to be sent throughout the summer.

The spokesman, Holger Euringer, said taxpayers who are due refunds should wait at least 10 weeks after filing their returns before calling the IRS. If after 12 weeks the agency has no record of the return, he suggests the individual file a duplicate return.

''By filing the duplicate, we should be able to speed up the refund,'' Euringer said. ''We'll be able to get it out to you within six weeks, and we'll pay all the interest due up to that time. By filing a duplicate, it doesn't mean we assume you never filed the original return.''

For all returns filed by the April 15 deadline, the IRS will pay interest from that date for any refund check dated after May 31. The interest rate is 13 percent a year, compounded daily.

As of May 31, the IRS service center in Atlanta, which handles five Southeastern states including Florida, says about 135,000 refunds still must be mailed. About 3.6 million Floridians are expected to get refunds this year out of the 4.8 million who filed returns.